May 13, 2009: Sensational Swimmers

The Mini Page is a syndicated, four-page tabloid written for young children found each Wednesday in The Denver Post. This issue of The Mini Page is available through the eEdition Archive to registered eEdition subscribers. Click here to learn about subscribing to the eEdition at no cost to you (for Colorado teachers).

Activities:

1. Draw a large sea turtle on a piece of paper. Paste newspaper words and pictures that tell about the sea turtle around the edges of your picture. Write a sentence about your picture.

2. Create a set of turtle trading cards. Put these words on individual 3-by-5-inch cards: leatherback turtle, female turtle, male turtle, freshwater turtle and Kemp's ridley turtle. Now write an important fact about each turtle on the back of its card. Share your cards with friends.

3. Look through newspaper ads and the "pets" section of the classified ads to see how many different reptiles you can find. List them. What reptile appears most often?

4. How are these things important to sea turtles: (a) undeveloped beaches,
(b) scutes, (c) curved shells, and (4) low heart rates?

5. Pretend you are nominating turtles for an Animal Hall of Fame. Make a list of facts about turtles from The Mini Page. Now use the facts to write a letter explaining why turtles deserve special consideration from humans.

This week's standards:

• Students understand the characteristics and life cycles of organisms. (Science: Life Science)
• Students understand the interactions of animals and their environments. (Science: Life Science)
  
  

(standards by Dr. Sherrye D. Garrett, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)